1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shielded connector which connects an external cable to a circuit in a shield case of a device.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8 shows the shielded connector of a prior example. A shielded connector 100 is disclosed in JP-A-2002-373737.
The shielded connector 100 is a connector by which external cables 110 are connected to a circuit in a shield case 103 of a device carried in an automobile or the like.
The shielded connector 100 includes cable-side connection terminals 120 which are crimped and connected to the distal ends of the external cables 110, a resin housing 130 which accommodates and holds the cable-side connection terminals 120, a shield shell 140 which holds the resin housing 130 and is fixed to the shield case 103 by screw members, and a packing 150 which seals a space between the shielded connector 100 and the shield case 103.
The cable-side connection terminal 120, as shown in FIG. 8, includes a tongue-shaped terminal part 121 at one end and includes an electric wire crimping part 122 at the other end. The tongue-shaped terminal part 121, as shown in FIG. 8, is a part which is connected to a tongue-shaped terminal 104 of the circuit in the shield case 103 by the screw members 105, 106. The electric wire crimping part 122 is a part which is crimped and connected to an end of the external cable 110.
The resin housing 130 is molded, and is integrally formed to accommodate the cable-side connection terminals 120. The external shape of the resin housing 130 is columnar so that the resin housing 130 can be inserted into a connector insertion hole 107 which penetrates the shield case 103. A packing installing groove 131 into which the packing 150 is installed is formed at the periphery of the resin housing 130 as a circle around the periphery.
The shield shell 140 includes a pipe-like shell body 141 which holds a base end 130a of the resin housing 130 which accommodates the ends of the external cables 110, and a case-fixing flange part 142 which is provided to be extended to be flange-shaped from the end of the shell body 141 at the side of the shield case 103. The case-fixing flange part 142 abuts against the outer surface of the shield case 103 in a face contact state, and is screw-fixed to the shield case 103 by a bolt 108. When the case-fixing flange part 142 is screw-fixed to the shield case 103, the shielded connector 100 is fixed to the shield case 103.
The packing 150 is a ring-shaped packing which is installed into the packing installing groove 131 of the resin housing 130. The packing 150 blocks the gap between the inner peripheral surface of the connector insertion hole 107 and the outer peripheral surface of the resin housing 130, and thus seals the space between the shielded connector 100 and the shield case 103.
However, since the shielded connector 100 disclosed in JP-A-2002-373737 is so constructed that the ring-shaped packing 150 is equipped on the outer peripheral surface of the resin housing 130 which is inserted into the connector insertion hole 107, and the ring-shaped packing 150 is closely contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the connector insertion hole 107 to seal the space between the shielded connector 100 and the shield case 103, if the external cables 110 are attached to and detached from the shield case 103 repeatedly, the packing 150 is easy to be damaged due to the sliding movement of the resin housing 130 in the connector insertion hole 107, and the sealing performance of the part attached to the shield case 103 may be decreased.
If the dimension of the attached part of the shield case 103, such as the arrangement of screw holes 109 in the shield case 103 to which the bolt 108 is screwed, or the shape or the dimension of the connector insertion hole 107, is changed, in response to the change, not only the design of the shield shell 140 but also the design of the resin housing 130 and the packing 150 which are both closely fitted with the connector insertion hole 107 need to be changed. That is, when the dimension of the attached part of the shield case 103 is changed, the designs of a large number of the components need to be changed. Therefore, there is a problem that much labor is necessary for product development in response to the change of the dimension of the attached part of the shield case.